


Salt Water Snails

by Bawgdan



Series: The moon isn't a star... [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 05:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11730195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bawgdan/pseuds/Bawgdan
Summary: Soulmates aren't always meant to be together.





	Salt Water Snails

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At the speed he tugs her, too fast to contemplate the normalcy of their fingers interlocked, streaks of moonlight zip above their heads. Even while human, Inuyasha retains an unnatural speed– it's as if she's being forcefully plucked from her dreams.

"Inuyasha...?" She drowsily stammers. As the forest takes dark forms within her line of vision, the sudden shame of being picked from her sleep and stepping over an unconscious Shippo hits her in the chest. Miroku always sleeps like a corpse, drunk on all of his vices, but she can't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

When Inuyasha stops in a clearing, she takes a breath and discovers that the source of her shame is the moon hovering above them. It looks closer to the surface, glaring with persecution. Inuyasha lets go of her hand, lifting his to his temples. This hasn't been the first time she's witnessed his mortality, but she catches an illness of butterflies in her stomach. His hair is so black, it bleeds into the darkness surrounding them. Inuyasha drags his hands from scratching his scalp to anxiously rubbing his face.

"Are you waiting for me to say something first?" Her voice is smaller than she wants it to be.

"If only you could read the rest of my mind, then I wouldn't have to talk at all." He moans and blows air from his nose.

"Well now you have to talk– better be fast about it too." She folds her arms over her chest, feeling naked.

"I think you got an idea, Sango. You're not dumb." Inuyasha drops his hands, frowning at her. Sango swallows and her ears pop. She figures if she doesn't speak at all, then maybe she wouldn't be forced to acknowledge what he'd been subtly hinting at for days.

But Inuyasha knows that Sango is incapable of lying. He took advantage of her good virtues like the natural born predator that he is. Even if he never meant to be malicious– he consistently held the upper hand.

"Sure, but what good will talking about it do?" She scoffs.

Inuyasha's shoulders fall as he holds his head back. Sango lifts her head to look at the swollen moon.

"I've gotten people killed for not speaking up." And sometimes he wonders if he had been more forthcoming with Kikyou, would everything be different. Though not ever knowing Sango seems a thousand years more sad.

Not knowing Shippo, Miroku, and Kagome...He winces with self-inflicted agony.

"But you're right. What good would talking about it do?" Inuyasha stares into the sky, folding his arms and crossing himself. "Acknowledging it will ruin everything."

She's inclined to agree with him, but how long can they ignore their expanding intimacy?

"Inuyasha," Sango isn't subtle when she says his name– her tone is infected with longing. Inuyasha's heart swells into his throat but he knows better than to look at her. "My father told me that love isn't always an immediate feeling, but once you open your eyes a little wider and it reveals itself, you will know it like you know to eat."

Inuyasha's lips twitch. He silently commands himself to hold his eyes against the stars. Looking at her would be the beginning of something they cannot take back. He doesn't have the soul to tell her to stop, his eyes stinging at thought of 'love'.

"That sounds kinda silly." His throat tightens.

"Not exactly if you really think about it." Sango shrugs. "I feel that way about you."

The forest becomes silent as if the spirits had been observing their circumstance.

Inuyasha blinks twice before facing her. "You want to eat me?" He smiles.

"I want to consume you." She whispers.

Sango's limbs go slack as she lowers her head in shame. She's a second away from sensibly abandoning the conversation, but Inuyasha does exactly what they've both feared for a long time. He steps into her personal space. He's only ever been this close when he suffered a wound and she had to carry him on her back.

"Really?" He lifts her chin with a finger. Sango's strength shatters and she turns back into a thirteen-year- old girl.

"Unfortunately." Her cheeks burn. She keeps her eyes below his nose.

"Don't tell Miroku." He says coolly in hopes for a rise out of her.

"The goal is to make you jealous. So maybe I will." She can't compose herself. The woman steps out of her the moment she meets his dark eyes.

And thank god he's only human for the time being. She would be ashamed if he could sense the bells ringing inside of her body.

Inuyasha leans in to kiss her but Sango tilts her head away and his lips brush her cheek. The wind sweeps through the trees and the forest sighs.

"That's not fair." His breath is warm against her ear.

"When has anything been fair, Inuyasha?" She chastises him. At some point, his arm had found its way around her hip and they remain still for a while. There is more to be said but it wouldn't do them any good. The readiness of her body had said more than she could ever allow herself say. Too bad he's mortal until the sun rises.

Wordless, Sango removes herself from the smell of his skin and heads back towards Kagome, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara.

Inuyasha doesn't stop her.


End file.
